Leads Are People Too

This idea came to me by way of my very own inbox. A few months ago, I got married. During the planning process, I registered on one of the many popular websites out there that require you to create an account to view their articles and resources. That site then took my information and shared it with a plethora of their partners, who sent me dedicated emails advertising their own services.

At that time, many of these offers were actually highly relevant and I wasn’t too annoyed by the influx of messages in my inbox. However now, months later, I’m still getting the occasional offer which I no longer need.

Today I unsubscribed from a particular partner and this was their unsubscribe page:

Bad Unsubscribe Page Example

This page told me a few things. It told me how I got on their list (oops, I forgot to un-check that pesky box about sharing information with valued partners), it told me when they purchased the list (let it be noted that it was actually after my wedding took place) and it had the glaring words “lead list” jumping out at me. This is not a very customer-friendly term, even to someone who works in lead management like me!

What can we learn from this?

Be careful with public facing lists. In Pardot, you always have the option to create both an internal “name” as well as a prospect-facing “label.” Do a quick audit of your public lists (if you use a public preference center) and also check out your unsubscribe page and make sure you’re using customer-friendly terms that won’t leave the reader with a bad taste in their mouth, even if they are unsubscribing from your list.

Be timely with your mailings. I distinctly remember that the website I registered for required me to input my wedding date. These companies can prevent themselves from becoming noise (or worse, spam!), by segmenting their mailing lists according to the date of the event.